Warmup Of The Day

Workout date: 7/27/17

I wanted at least two days off before the BBC meet on Sunday.  If Wednesday night's WOD turned out to be as hellacious as I thought it might be, then I was going to skip Thursday's workout.  But once I realized that Wednesday wasn't going to be so bad, I decided that I'd drop in for class on Thursday.  I thought we'd be in store for another long-ish metcon, but instead we had another laid back WOD on tap.  We'd begin by finding a 2RM front squat.  That probably sounds like one of our benchmark tests for the year, but it actually was not.  Just a good old-fashioned strength session thrown into the programming.  As was the case last night, there was a short cash-out to close out the class.  Here's the last thing I'd be doing before I pretended to be an Olympic lifter on Sunday:

Cash-out:
9 minute AMRAP
6 strict pull-ups
9 front squats at 50% of 2RM

With 12 of us in coach Giulz's class, we would need to share racks to accommodate everyone.  Chris S was about the same size as me and he looked like he would probably squat as much as me, so I agreed to share a rack with him.  I'm not sure why one of the portable racks was pulled out (there might have been some Open Strength folks using racks at the far end of the gym), but Chris and I ended up using that one.  We set up shop right in the center of the gym.

The way this workout was written, we were supposed to complete six working sets on our way to establishing a 2RM front squat.  My previous best was two reps at 275 pounds, so I wanted to build a progression towards 280 pounds.  I came up with 135-185-205-225-245-265-280, with the set at 135 being a warmup set.  I asked Chris how he wanted to progress through the lifts and he replied that he would be happy using what I had on the barbell.  If it got to a point where he needed to ease back on that progression, he would make a switch at that time.

I led us off by doing 4 reps at 135 pounds.  I didn't need to do that many in the set, but it was a very light weight for me and this was technically the only warmup set that I would be doing.  Chris was true to his word about doing whatever I did when he followed me with his own set of 4 reps.  When we moved up to 185, I pared my sets back down to two reps.  Chris must have been feeling extra energetic because he ended up going for three reps at that weight.  When we talked over what weights we'd be using for our 2RM, Chris made it sound like he wouldn't be able to keep up with me, but he was looking like the stronger half of our partnership early on.

The two of us continued to make quick work of our sets.  Neither of us had any issues at 205 or 225.  245 was closing in on Chris's best two-rep set and I think that might have gotten into his head a little bit.  I still felt great as I moved through my two reps at 245, but Chris had to work pretty hard to stand up with his 2nd rep at that weight.  Because of that struggle, he let me know that he'd only be using 255 for his next set.

Chris wasn't the only one approaching his previous best.  It had been clear sailing all the way up to 265, but I began to get a little concerned about my next set after seeing Chris barely get through 245. Watching someone else either struggle or fail really does have an effect on your psyche.  I told myself to put that out of my mind as I stepped up to take on 265.  Surprisingly, it worked.  I didn't even pause between reps as I belted out a double at 265.  The plan had been to try 280 with my last set, but I felt so good that I called an audible and decided to go up to 285 for the finale.

We loaded up the barbell with 255 pounds for Chris's next set.  It's always tough to be confident in a heavier set when you just worked so hard to get through a lighter set.  To Chris's credit, he showed a lot of grit in standing up his first rep at 255 when it looked like he might be stuck.  But once he got stuck again on rep #2, he had to bail the barbell.  That would be his final set of the day.

As for me, I was brimming with confidence heading to my set at 285 pounds.  It might have been too much confidence.  Even if a set is only two reps, I tend to pause between reps when the weight gets really heavy.  I had yet to do that today, even during the set at 265 pounds, which was only 10 pounds shy of my best two-rep set.  I guess I was just going with the flow.  I took the barbell off the rack to begin my set at 285 pounds thinking that I was going to have fight it like Chris did on his set at 255, but somehow I bounced right up out of the first rep like there was 185 on the barbell, not 285.  And that's when I made my mistake.  With this being a PR attempt, I should have taken my time when I came up from that first rep, reset my form and breathing, and then gone after rep #2.  Instead, I came up from the first rep and went immediately into the second one.  As I started to rise from the bottom, I hit my sticking point.  I had tricked myself into thinking this was gonna be easy and, in an instant, I realized how wrong I was.

The funny thing is that my newfound confidence hadn't completely worn off despite being in a jam.  I was probably 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the squat when I became stuck, so I decided that all I needed to do to get out of my predicament was get a little boost.  How would that work?  I'd drop back down to the bottom again and try to bounce out of it to produce the momentum I'd need to blast through the sticking point.  It wasn't a horrible plan, as long as I ignored the fact that this tactic ended in failure every time I've attempted it (or watched someone else try it).  The no-hitter remained intact after this attempt as well.  I did get some bounce out of the bottom, but I got stuck in the same spot when I tried to stand up again.  There would be no third bounce attempt.  I reluctantly dropped the barbell, feeling like I had blown an opportunity at a PR.

There wasn't much time to dwell on that failure as Giulz let us know we'd be starting the cash-out in a couple of minutes.  Chris had grabbed another barbell to load up for himself, so I stripped down the one we had been sharing to 135 pounds.  I loved the idea of light front squats in a sprint cash-out.  My adoration for strict pull-ups was considerably less.  Whenever we've done Fran this year, we've done a short EMOM in advance of it where we complete 4 strict pull-ups each minute for 4 minutes.  It didn't take me a full minute to get through those 4 strict pull-ups, so I figured I might be able to do 6 strict pull-ups in a minute.  If I gave myself a minute for each round of the front squats, I'd complete 4.5 rounds in this 9 minute AMRAP.  It was unlikely that I'd maintain the same pace for the entire 9 minutes, so I came up with a more conservative goal of 4 full rounds.

Rounds 1 and 2 were exactly the same for me.  I performed 2 strict pull-ups at a time.  When those three sets were done, I went over to my barbell and strung 9 front squats.  I was right around 4 minutes at the end of two rounds, so I was on schedule.  In round 3, I was able to do one last set of 2 strict pull-ups, but from there on out, I was down to singles.  The front squats were still my friend as I did 9 more in a row.  Dropping from doubles to singles on the strict pull-ups caused my pace to slow, leaving me less than two and a half minutes to try and complete round four.  Each strict pull-up was now a battle, but I kept creeping my chin slightly over the bar.  The biggest problem I had is that you can't speed up the strict pull-ups.  Once they go, you're screwed, so you have to wait until your arms are ready.  I'd finish a rep, shake my arms vigorously, then helplessly watch the clock tick towards 9 minutes.  Completing 4 rounds was looking dicey as I had 2 strict pull-ups and 9 front squats remaining with about a minute left.  When I finished my last strict pull-up, I ran over to my barbell.  There was about 30 seconds left, so I needed to hustle on the front squats.  I needed 9 in a row one more time, probably at a faster pace than I had done them in round 3.  As I descended into my 8th squat, I heard Giulz begin the countdown of the final 5 seconds.  I stood up, dropped quickly, and stood up right as Giulz yelled "TIME!"  Final score: 4 full rounds.

It was tight, but I snuck under the wire to reach my goal on the cash-out.  That was probably the perfect way to end my last workout before the BBC meet.  There was no reason to do anything else.  I certainly wasn't going to do another WOD.  That is what I had to explain to Danielle when she tried to recruit me for more fitness after class was over.  Danielle has an amazing engine and she has proven on Monday nights that one workout is not enough for her.  She wants to row after class.  She wants to do wall balls.  Her sickest fascination might be with the assault bike, which she always seems to incorporate into her follow-up workouts.  When I told her that I didn't want to do anything else after the strict pull-up/front squat cash-out, she seemed genuinely disappointed.  She wasn't tired, so why would I be tired?  (Answer: She's in much better shape than me.)  I looked at her like the crazy person she is and asked her if she thought WOD stood for "Warmup Of the Day".  She clearly has been treating WODs as though they were nothing but a small plate whetting her appetite for the main course.  She laughed at my interpretation of WOD, although I wouldn't be surprised if inside her head she thought "that workout really was nothing but a warmup".  She moved on to her next workout while I headed home to rest up for the BBC meet.

Sunday preview: I take the stage and lift heavy barbells in front of judges wielding paddles!  It's actually way more tense than it sounds.  There is disappointment.  There is elation.  And there is a very awkward celebration.